Ordinance Would Give City Time To Review Floodplain Policies

WINTER PARK — The city commission has given preliminary approval to an ordinance to temporarily stop issuing construction permits in areas that flood during major storms.

The ordinance will not go into effect until after a second public hearing at the commission's May 14 meeting.

The ordinance is intended to give the planning and zoning commission 90 days to review its power to deny such requests and to draft an amendment to the city code to control development in floodplains.

''There is a general trend that more and more marginal pieces of property are being considered for development,'' said city planner Jeff Briggs. ''Land is at such a premium now that lots that would never, in the past, have been considered for development are being looked at seriously.''

The planning and zoning commission was prompted to ask for the ordinance after the city received a request to build a single-family home on Hampden Place, next to Howell Branch Creek. The plan is to build the house on 4-foot- high pilings, but the 20,000-square-foot lot is entirely within a floodplain that will have high water during a major storm.

Briggs said many times the city code does not cover those kinds of unusual requests. For example, next month the planning body will review a request to fill in part of a lake so that a car dealership can expand its business. The last time that was done was when the city filled in part of the sinkhole on Denning Drive so it would be able to rebuild the road, Briggs said.

''No one in years past would have considered building a stilt house,'' Briggs said. ''The P&Z realized that they don't have any regulations on stilt houses. Building a stilt house requires improvisation, deviations and special designs.''

The lot in question is next to four other houses that were built in the 1970s before more stringent regulations went into effect, Briggs said. Two years ago the city's board of adjustment denied an application to fill in the lot so a house could be raised above the flood level. The new plan to use pilings is a way to avoid using fill.

''The big deal is the concern about the precedent-setting nature of building in flood areas . . . of having people live in areas that will be flooded,'' Briggs said. ''These stream sections we have are important environmental areas, too. These are wetland areas that have an ecology and wildlife.''

Another factor is the neighborhood's opposition to the new construction, Briggs said. Fifty-two residents opposed to the proposal signed a petition that was given to the planning and zoning commission and the city commission. ''You can't underestimate that this is political . . . that you have one issue that has unanimously galvanized the neighborhood in opposition,'' Briggs said.

Although the lot in question is owned by Charles Simmons, architect Stanley Forrest has an agreement to buy it. Briggs said Forrest told him he will appeal the moratorium, but it is unlikely the planning board will allow him to be excluded from it because his application was filed before the ordinance was proposed.

The planning and zoning commission will meet May 8 to discuss the ordinance.